Meet Worth The Trip For Hammer-thrower

By now, William Doyle`s parents in Dublin, Ireland, must know he`s the hammer throw champion of the Keebler Invitational track and field meet.

``What time is it back home?`` asked Doyle of his traveling companion and competitor, Roman Linscheid of Gormanstown, Ireland. ``I`ve got to call over and tell them.``

Linscheid, who finished fourth, took off his sunglasses and looked at his watch. ``Maybe 7, I think, back there,`` he replied.

``They`re probably watching television now,`` said Doyle.

``No, what`s the time difference?`` interjected Linscheid. ``It`s not 5 hours, it`s 6 hours from here. So it`s after 8.``

``They`re still watching television,`` said Doyle.

The folks back home must have been delighted with their son`s performance in the prestigious prep track meet. Doyle won the hammer throw with an effort of 208 feet 1 inch.

A few more efforts like that, and 17-year-old William Doyle could find himself with an athletic scholarship to a school in this country. ``That`s what I`m after right now,`` he said.

Doyle, who`s going into his final year of high school, plans to show his latest press clippings to college coaches in the Boston area before returning to Ireland.

``Right now, I don`t have anything,`` he said. ``But I hope this will help me.``

It won`t hurt in New England, the only part of the U.S. in which the hammer throw has much prominence on track and field programs.

The last six Keebler kings in this event were from Rhode Island, and Doyle is the third Irishman to win the event. The first, in 1980, was Connor Mulcahey, who, like Doyle, attended Belvedere school in Dublin.

And if you look at the records, Mulcahey`s throw of 198-10 and a 203-7 toss by winner Declan Hegarty of Dublin in 1977 were both under Doyle`s best. Does this make Doyle the best young Irish hammer thrower ever? ``Not really,`` he said. ``In Ireland we throw 13 1/2 pounds, and here they throw the 12 pounds. I`m not used to working with the lighter weight, and the best I`ve done with the heavier weight is 197 feet.``

And, he said, training is different. ``We don`t lift as many weights as they do here, and we don`t have the warm weather you do over here. Competing in Ireland, the temperature is maybe 15 or 25 degrees cooler.``

Doyle and Linscheid flew here Thursday night and haven`t seen much of this country except for airports, hotel rooms and track meets. But they did note the quality of the athletes at the Keebler meet.

``This is like coming to the Olympic Games for me,`` Linscheid said.

``You just don`t see this kind of athlete back home.

``Look at a person like this (Kamy) Keshmiri, the discus thrower,`` said Doyle. ``No, I didn`t see him compete, but I heard them say he did 217 feet. We just don`t see things like this in Ireland.``

Seldom has anyone seen the likes of Keshmiri, who last week set the all-time prep standard of 225-2 and in six throws averaged better than 218 feet, or nearly five feet more than the old record of 213-4.

Keshmiri`s effort was perhaps the lone highlight of the meet that was washed out by rain for the first time in its 19-year history.

Doyle wasn`t the only non-American to win Saturday. But victories by Pat O`Donaghue of Canada and Jamaicans Thomas Mason and Glenroy Levy were aided by the bad weather.

O`Donaghue had become the first of seven high jumpers to clear 6-10 when the rains came and was named the winner after officials decided to stop the competition because of treacherous footing.

Mason won the 400 meters in :47.6 while the rain chased all but the meet officials to cover.

It was the last official event of the day, although Levy won an exhibition mile in 4:09.7 when nine milers asked the meet directors to let them run.

``If they want to run, let them run,`` said invitations chairman Neal Robinson, who also thought the races should be deemed exhibitions.